Castleview gets
its own medical
helicopter service

In a little more than a month, Castleview Hospital's newest service will be taking off - literally.

The Price hospital is partnering with a Salt Lake medical helicopter service to provide emergency transportation for patients whose lives depend on getting care within minutes.

"There are some things that we will never be able to do because of the size of our community," explained Administrator Mark Holyoak. "Those are services like major trauma, acute stroke, severe heart attack."

Holyoak said that by having a medical helicopter and crew based here 24/7, it will reduce the time it takes to get critical patients to the larger medical centers upstate.

The company that will provide the helicopter service is Eagle Air Med of Salt Lake City. Holyoak said the chopper is newly-purchased and Eagle is in the final stages of obtaining necessary permits.

He added that in the winter, when helicopter service is resticted by weather, a fixed-wing aircraft will be provided.